Toby Atkin-Wright

I’ve been using Keybase for years, most recently as a way to transfer things like Azure and AWS credentials to partner organisations. Back in 2019 they added some kind of cryptocurrency wallet to their app as part of a deal with Stellar, and in doing so furnished all of their users with some XLM Lumens. At the time, around £50 worth. I happily took the handout and, with little interest in cryptocurrencies, happily ignored it.

But when I opened the app earlier this month I noticed that my wallet was worth nearer £420, which is a sum to pay attention to. I figured out how to transfer the Lumens to Coinbase and from there into pounds in my Monzo account. And then £400 into savings, and the remaining £20 into pizza via Papa John’s.

At work our holiday year starts at the beginning of April, so there is always a rush to take one’s remaining hols before the end of March. I always keep a couple of days of holiday to hand in case I need to use them at short notice, so end up taking them around this time. Hence being on holiday yesterday and today. But I’m back to work tomorrow.

This past year many colleagues didn’t take as much holiday as usual, for obvious reasons, so have been taking weeks of holiday in the past couple of months. Makes sense, but has left work feeling quite sparsely populated at times.

On our work Slack I suggested that we could solve this in the future by giving everyone their own holiday year, cycling on their birthday. That would spread the pinch points throughout the year. It may not be common to do this, but other organisations take similar approaches. But it obviously wasn’t popular with my lot, as the idea was shot down, with an unexpected level of negativity. I suppose people get quite attached to the structure of their working life, and any suggestions for change feel like a threat. Or just a lot of hassle.